National Forum

Hurling Championship 2026

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Replying To Seniorleague:  "As recently as 2015 kilkenny were accused of destroying hurling with their dominance. It was their 8th all ireland in 10 seasons and they won it easily. They haven't won one since.
These things can change."
It absolutely will end you are right BUT the structural issues with the game remain.

In over 130 years the GAA hasn't really spread the game, its still largely strong where it was strong when the organisation was founded.
I'm sure everyone here agrees its a fantastic game but its hard to stand up the contention that its our 'national game' when large swathes don't play it all and that saddens me. Is there sufficient investment into the game? (Maybe it was just me but seeing JP McManus on the pitch yesterday with the team was uncomfortable, is the benefactor driven model, healthy, equitable, sustainable?). I question clubs and counties who choose to ignore one code, either of them to be fair, yet gain grants etc on the same basis of clubs and counties who promote a dual ethos.
It could be me but this years championship felt less vital, less important, Munster felt overhyped and while in past has astounded us, felt very ordinary, big Cork driven crowds aside. From a parochial perspective, a weak Dublin suits us in Wexford BUT from a big picture health of the game we really need to see Cork, Dublin and Antrim - out 3 urban centres really flying - I think hurling translates better into an urban environment than football but not as well as soccer.

We love that in hurling you can't 'park the bus' and that it never fell foul of the 'blanket' defence BUT is it too free scoring? Should it be routine for scores to come from 70 meters out? I miss the electric corner forward play of DJ, Lar Corbet, Eddie Brennan, where has this gone? Basketball is a similarly high scoring game who had concerns and they sought to tackle this through a number of ways, not all GAA relevant, but their 'luxury tax' that punishes teams who breech spending rules, while a revenue sharing model reditriutuied income away from stronger/wealthier clubs. I don't want to punish excellence, but stop success and resources becoming so concentrated that competitions become predictable and one-sided.

Yesterday it looked like the Leinster championship ill prepared Galway for the intensity they experience in the final, would Galway who had emerged from a Munster campaign have done better - I think so. Munster can pull up the ladder, say 'not our problem' but eventually it will be. Sitting on our laurels does not seem like an option, with a rejuvenated football championship and a more and more competitive sporting landscape, where we I expect we'll see more state investment into other sports (soccer is pushing hard as a soft power vehicle and 'integration' tool) to gain massive state subsidies for their academies. The GAA as an antidote to an increasingly homogenised, globalised, vanilla world into which we should incentivize,

wexford2012 (Wexford) - Posts: 135 - 20/07/2026 11:25:35    2686345

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Replying To TrueBlue35:  "Surely time to address the elephant in the room Fionn and start the serious conversation of splitting Limerick in two?? ;)"
They are some outfit alright.

Near domination at this stage.
All Ireland Champs, Munster SHC and League winners also.

They clearly took their eye off the ball last year v the Dubs also, imo.

As for splitting them in 2 - similar to their old car reg's - L for City and LK for their county. lol ;o)

Fionn (Dublin) - Posts: 5190 - 20/07/2026 11:28:39    2686346

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Replying To TrueBlue35:  "Surely time to address the elephant in the room Fionn and start the serious conversation of splitting Limerick in two?? ;)"
:) and we will give the same clever answer the Dubs gave when the same question was posed years ago:

"We are all in favour of splitting Limerick in two............................................ a Limerick V Limerick all Ireland Final would be class :)

LimerickandProud (Limerick) - Posts: 289 - 20/07/2026 14:13:59    2686369

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Replying To endgame:  "Unfortunately Galway hurlers have consistently performed poorly in All Ireland finals. 21 lost out of 26. There is nothing positive for Galway to take out of today. They were abysmal from start to finish."
A bit like Ros's Sam Maguire trek as provincial champs 2026………..abysmal!!

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4876 - 20/07/2026 14:41:39    2686375

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Replying To Pope_Benedict:  "A bit like Ros's Sam Maguire trek as provincial champs 2026………..abysmal!!"
If that makes you feel better. How would you describe Galway's performance yesterday.

endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2751 - 20/07/2026 15:03:52    2686378

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Replying To endgame:  "If that makes you feel better. How would you describe Galway's performance yesterday."
They couldn't handle Limerick's heat. Not the first time that has happened since 2018. I'm more puzzled by an 11pt win over Cork than an 11pt loss to Limerick. This is a year2 Galway side that no one earmarked as allireland contenders in 2026, prior to the Cork demolition, and even then it was difficult to fancy them against that current Limerick side too. Certain players may feel that they had below par performances, but with 11 players in their first final against a team in their prime winning their 6th of 9, it was a tall order, and it proved to be a tall order on the day.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4876 - 20/07/2026 17:43:36    2686409

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Replying To Pope_Benedict:  "They couldn't handle Limerick's heat. Not the first time that has happened since 2018. I'm more puzzled by an 11pt win over Cork than an 11pt loss to Limerick. This is a year2 Galway side that no one earmarked as allireland contenders in 2026, prior to the Cork demolition, and even then it was difficult to fancy them against that current Limerick side too. Certain players may feel that they had below par performances, but with 11 players in their first final against a team in their prime winning their 6th of 9, it was a tall order, and it proved to be a tall order on the day."
Yes I agree with that. The Galway result v Cork was a strange one. Limerick only scraped by Clare in the semi final. I wonder would Galway have fared better against Clare if that was the final.

endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2751 - 20/07/2026 19:31:09    2686419

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Congratulations to Limerick on a great win. However, it was a dead enough match with not much atmosphere or excitement (still 10 times better than the Word Cup fiasco that followed later that evening).

It was only when all the highlights were put together on the Sunday Game afterwards that I realized how brilliant was some of the hurling that came from Limerick; that Adam English point for example, or the vision of Gillane on more than one occasion, plus WOD's tackling.

I am not one for getting into debates about this Limerick team vs. Cody's Kilkenny. However, on realizing that many of those Limerick players yesterday were earning their sixth AI medal, I did a bit of research, and it really brought home how amazing what Cody did really was.

Prior to the Cody era those with 6 or more AI medals read:

Tipperary-two: John Doyle (8) and Jimmy Doyle (6)
Cork-three: Christy Ring (8), Jack Lynch (6-five hurling and one football), JBM (6-five hurling and 1 football).
Kilkenny-five: Eddie Keher (6), Pat Delaney (6), Paddy Grace, Sim Walton, and Frank Cummins (8). I'm not sure how many Walton and Grace had it total.

And the last one of those medals was won in 1986 by JBM. So, for 102 years, we had only 10 players who managed 6 or more.

Apologies if I missed anyone.

You can add possibly up to 16 Kilkenny hurlers under Cody who have 6 medals or more.

Limerick has possibly 13 on six medals after yesterday. I believe that Barry Nash was a sub in 2018, that Sean Finn was injured one year but had played in the early part of the championship that year, so he would have got a medal. I think Mike Casey missed out completely for one year but could be wrong. If he didn't miss out, we're talking about possibly 14.

So, in the last quarter of a century, we have had up to 30 hurlers win 6 or more medals between Cody's and Kiely's teams. That should really put the achievements of both managers into perspective.

And are Limerick finished yet?

foreveryoung (USA) - Posts: 2609 - 20/07/2026 21:03:21    2686426

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Replying To endgame:  "Yes I agree with that. The Galway result v Cork was a strange one. Limerick only scraped by Clare in the semi final. I wonder would Galway have fared better against Clare if that was the final."
Its hard to be confident about how any game between 7/8 might go.

Limerick definitely the most consistent and best but others can look brilliant or abysmal from one day ro next.

Limerick would most likely have done same to any team yesterday.

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 4494 - 21/07/2026 00:46:00    2686441

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Replying To wexford2012:  "It absolutely will end you are right BUT the structural issues with the game remain.

In over 130 years the GAA hasn't really spread the game, its still largely strong where it was strong when the organisation was founded.
I'm sure everyone here agrees its a fantastic game but its hard to stand up the contention that its our 'national game' when large swathes don't play it all and that saddens me. Is there sufficient investment into the game? (Maybe it was just me but seeing JP McManus on the pitch yesterday with the team was uncomfortable, is the benefactor driven model, healthy, equitable, sustainable?). I question clubs and counties who choose to ignore one code, either of them to be fair, yet gain grants etc on the same basis of clubs and counties who promote a dual ethos.
It could be me but this years championship felt less vital, less important, Munster felt overhyped and while in past has astounded us, felt very ordinary, big Cork driven crowds aside. From a parochial perspective, a weak Dublin suits us in Wexford BUT from a big picture health of the game we really need to see Cork, Dublin and Antrim - out 3 urban centres really flying - I think hurling translates better into an urban environment than football but not as well as soccer.

We love that in hurling you can't 'park the bus' and that it never fell foul of the 'blanket' defence BUT is it too free scoring? Should it be routine for scores to come from 70 meters out? I miss the electric corner forward play of DJ, Lar Corbet, Eddie Brennan, where has this gone? Basketball is a similarly high scoring game who had concerns and they sought to tackle this through a number of ways, not all GAA relevant, but their 'luxury tax' that punishes teams who breech spending rules, while a revenue sharing model reditriutuied income away from stronger/wealthier clubs. I don't want to punish excellence, but stop success and resources becoming so concentrated that competitions become predictable and one-sided.

Yesterday it looked like the Leinster championship ill prepared Galway for the intensity they experience in the final, would Galway who had emerged from a Munster campaign have done better - I think so. Munster can pull up the ladder, say 'not our problem' but eventually it will be. Sitting on our laurels does not seem like an option, with a rejuvenated football championship and a more and more competitive sporting landscape, where we I expect we'll see more state investment into other sports (soccer is pushing hard as a soft power vehicle and 'integration' tool) to gain massive state subsidies for their academies. The GAA as an antidote to an increasingly homogenised, globalised, vanilla world into which we should incentivize,"
Why would JP McManus being on the Croke Park pitch make you feel uncomfortable? This man gave your county board money to spend as they saw fit. Has anyone else done that?

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6631 - 21/07/2026 08:56:56    2686447

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As good as the limerick team are . I think the playing on the edge has helped them turn hurling into can ultimate power game where constant fouling is being let go as no referee wants to be the one chastised for not letting the game flow .
Of course that is my opinion and no one has to agree but where is the place for a the skillful hurler in the game nowadays .
I d rather watch the likes of screeny any day but he will be physically dominated and bullied on and off the ball. Negate the skill through physically bullying him .

Fair play to limerick a generational team coached to live on the very edge and of course very skilful too .
But when the ball is there to be won they get away with assaulting the opposition .
Not there problem its up to refs to impose the rules .
If they dont do it soon the game will demand all teams will need 6ft 2 plus 90kg tanks of players to even start to think of competing and learn more dark arts than actual skills of the game.
Galway were nt able to match that level of physicality or intensity in the tackle and slowly hit after hit softened them up to the point they could nt.take any more and wilted .
How many were fouls and let go to keep the game flowing as I said its an officials problem Limerick only playing on the extreme edge and being let .
Is any ref brave enough to say sorry now thats not a legal tackle . Limerick have set the bar others will and are following the trend will our game survive if it just becomes an arm wrestling contest yesbof course u need to be able to hurl too but how many side steps or avoided tackles were seen on sunday . Hit the runner slow him down gentle tug of the arm ,turn him,, pull other arm , swarm him disposess him . No foul i ask

Formertownie (Wexford) - Posts: 636 - 21/07/2026 09:00:57    2686448

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Replying To slayer:  "Why would JP McManus being on the Croke Park pitch make you feel uncomfortable? This man gave your county board money to spend as they saw fit. Has anyone else done that?"
Probably a bit of envy involved there.
Fair play to Mcmanus for that gesture, and fair play to our Board who distributed most of that windfall to the clubs.
But a bit like all the whingeing that went on about money and Dublin when they were winning all their recent Football titles, I dont think this current Limerick team have won what they have won purely because of money. It took a huge root and branch review from grassroots upwards after the 07 final defeat, huge buy in from the hurling community then after that, and a massive commitment from volunteers at club and county level from u6 upwards to develop the players they currently have, coupled with generational players to start with. Alot like Dublin did it has to be said.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20291 - 21/07/2026 10:13:43    2686454

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Replying To slayer:  "Why would JP McManus being on the Croke Park pitch make you feel uncomfortable? This man gave your county board money to spend as they saw fit. Has anyone else done that?"
Also JP McManus is the Honorary Life President of Limerick GAA, of course he should be on the pitch when we win

LimerickandProud (Limerick) - Posts: 289 - 21/07/2026 10:47:00    2686459

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